Existing broadband access technologies are primarily divided into copper wire access and optical access technologies. An access network implemented with the optical access technology is referred to as an Optical Access Network (OAN). The Passive Optical Network (PON) technology is an optical access technology for point-to-multipoint transport.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a networking structure of an existing PON system including an Optical Line Terminal (OLT), an Optical Distributed Network (ODN) and an Optical Network Unit (ONU).
Specifically, the OLT connected with at least one ODN provides an OAN with a Serial Network Interface (SNI).
The ODN is a passive light splitter adapted to transmit downlink data from the OLT to each ONU by light splitting and to transmit uplink data from each ONU to the OLT.
The ONU connected with the ODN provides the OAN with a User Network Interface (UNI), and if the ONU also functions as a user port, e.g., an Ethernet user port or a Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), then the ONU can be referred to as an Optical Network Termination (ONT). The ONU and the ONT will be collectively referred to as the ONT hereinafter unless stated otherwise.
An ONU Management Control Interface (OMCI) refers to a mechanism for transporting information between an OLT and an ONT; by configuring a transmission channel through the OMCI, the ONT can be managed and controlled by the OLT. In the OMCI mechanism, various data for management of the ONT by the OLT is extracted as Protocol-Independent Management Information Base (MIB), and a basic information unit of a MIB is a Management Entity (ME).
Service distribution refers to an automatic configuration procedure in which an operator initially allocates a number to a user and finally refreshes a service of the user through a service distribution system including an Order System, an Operation Support System (OSS), an Equipment Management System (EMS) and a service equipment. Currently, there are numerous PON technologies, e.g., a Giga-bit Passive Optical Network (GPON), a Broad Band PON (BPON), etc., and the service distribution procedure in the PON system based upon the OMCI mechanism will be described below by way of an example of the GPON system.
Firstly, the operator investigates a network to determine physical deployment, installs an equipment and performs corresponding basic configuration in the EMS; then, when a user registers for a service at a business hall, service information of the user is recorded by the OSS system and the EMS is instructed to generate data related to the service information of the user; and finally, the EMS sends the data to the service equipment which accomplishes specific parameter configuration. Except that the configuration at the reception desk of the business hall needs manual intervention, subsequent processes in the procedure are automatically implemented jointly by the equipments of OSS, EMS, OLT, ONT, etc., and this automatically implemented procedure is referred to as service distribution.
The OMCI management entity has been functionally improved in the G984.4 standard and subsequent supplementary versions established for GPON technology by the International Telecommunication Union, Telecommunication sector (ITU-T) so that the OMCI can manage value-added services of Voice over IP (VoIP), Circuit Emulation Service (CES), Multimedia over Coax Association (MoCA), etc. A service distribution method for these value-added services is as illustrated in FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 2, when a user registers for a service, e.g., the VoIP service, the OSS sends a message of adding the VoIP service for the user to an EMS, the EMS sends all configurations related to the VoIP service by MIB messages of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) in sequence to an ONT, then an OLT converts these MIB messages into an OMCI management entity message and sends the message to the ONT, and finally the ONT configures specific hardware devices in sequence in the ONT according to the OMCI management entity message.
The inventors of this application have identified during making the invention the following drawbacks in the above technical solution:
1. There are numerous types of terminals, but only management entities for services such as VoIP, CES, MoCA, etc., have been prescribed in the standard. In the case of a newly added service for which a service distribution is to be performed, an OMCI management entity has to be extended correspondingly for the new service, which may incur a heavy development workload due to the complexity of the OMCI management entity.
2. When a new service has been added and the OMCI management entity has been extended correspondingly for the new service, a corresponding OMCI management entity message has to be added, which brings increased difficulty in intercommunication between the equipments of OLT and ONT.
3. Any modification of the OMCI management entity involves modifications of numerous parts, as EMS, OLT, ONT, etc., which may be adverse to an extension thereof.
Consequently, the above existing service distribution solution has poor extendibility.